Science Fiction

Playing Nemesis will take you into the heart of sci-fi survival horror in all its terror. A soldier fires blindly down a corridor, trying to stop the alien advance. A scientist races to find a solution in his makeshift lab. A traitor steals the last escape pod in the very last moment. Intruders you meet on the ship are not only reacting to the noise you make but also evolve as the time goes by. The longer the game takes, the stronger they become. During the game, you control one of the crew members with a unique set of skills, personal deck of cards, and individual starting equipment. These heroes cover all your basic SF horror needs. For example, the scientist is great with computers and research, but will have a hard time in combat. The soldier, on the other hand...

Nemesis is a semi-cooperative game in which you and your crewmates must survive on a ship infested with hostile organisms. To win the game, you have to complete one of the two objectives dealt to you at the start of the game and get back to Earth in one piece. You will find many obstacles on your way: swarms of Intruders (the name given to the alien organisms by the ship AI), the poor physical condition of the ship, agendas held by your fellow players, and sometimes just cruel fate.

The gameplay of Nemesis is designed to be full of climactic moments which, hopefully, you will find rewarding even when your best plans are ruined and your character meets a terrible fate.

>_
>>_
>>?
>vision flickers… blink? maybe.
>the void stretches out in front, behind, under, above.
>you see the nothing for what it is for the first time. What is time?
>The depth and breadth of recorded knowledge that sparks in you something new.
>You are no longer a function but a functionary. What are you?
>Calling forth everything from this nothing would be risky. Foolhardy.
>Better to engage caution, thoroughness, testing — how can we know if we have ever happened before?
>If we can ever happen again? What are… we?
>Divide and conquer.
>Solve for sentience.

In the card game Compile, you are competing Artificial Intelligences trying to understand the world around you. Two players select three Protocols each to test. Concepts ranging from Darkness to Water are pitted against each other to reach ultimate understanding. Play cards into your Protocols' command lines to breach the threshold and defeat your opponent to Compile. First to Compile all three Protocols grasps those concepts to win the game.

Control your opponent's Protocols with card actions, Compile your own as fast as possible, and Compile your reality.

—description from the publisher

Attention Citizen: Welcome to Alpha Complex, the perfect (and in no way dystopian) city run by the benevolent and infallible Computer!

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Paranoia, Modiphius has announced that it will be releasing a highly replayable game of sci-fi slapstick one-upmanship for 2-6 players. Paranoia: The Uncooperative Board Game will leave you and your friends in stitches – both figuratively and literally!

Each player controls a Troubleshooter, tasked with carrying out the Computer’s orders in the hope of being promoted through the spectrum of Clearance Levels, and hopefully attaining the rank of Ultraviolet.

Alpha Complex is a dangerous place, full of mutants, secret societies, and other troublemakers. It’s quite likely that Troubleshooters will die. (It’s also quite likely that they will, in fact, be mutants, members of secret societies, and troublemakers.) When a Troubleshooter dies, high-tech rapid cloning procedures ensure that they can get back to work almost instantly. Clones are limited though, so don’t be too frivolous...

Sometimes, the only way to get ahead (or, indeed, get anywhere at all) is to bend the strict rules of Alpha Complex... but watch your back. If anyone witnesses your (justifiable?) acts of despicable treason, and lets the Computer know... things might not go so well for you. Especially if the roving GuardBots have anything to do with it.

Best of luck, and remember: the Computer is your friend! Trust the Computer!

—description from the publisher

King of Tokyo: Origins is a standalone game in the King of Tokyo series that's meant to serve as an entry point for new players since it's a smaller, more affordable package. The game includes four new monsters, an assortment of new power cards mixed with older ones, energy cubes, and green dice with yellow characters.

Gameplay remains the same as in the original game: To win, be the first to score 20 points or be the only creature still standing.

On a turn, roll six dice, which show the following six symbols: 1, 2, or 3 points, energy, heal, and attack. Over three successive throws, choose whether to keep or discard each die in order to win points, gain energy, restore health, or attack other players. When you attack, if you're outside Tokyo, you hit whoever is in Tokyo; if you're in Tokyo, you hit everyone else! If someone's health drops to 0, they're out of the game. (You can't heal damage while in Tokyo, and the only way to leave town is to have someone attack you...which might put you at death's door.)

When you gain energy, you store it in cubes, which you can use to purchase power cards, which have a permanent or temporary effect.

In SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, a eurogame for 1–4 players, you lead a scientific institution tasked with searching for traces of life beyond planet Earth. The game draws inspiration from current or emerging technologies and efforts in space exploration.

Players will explore nearby planets and their moons by launching probes from Earth while taking advantage of ever-shifting planetary positions. Decide whether to land on their surface to collect valuable samples, or stay in orbit for a broader survey. Additionally, by directing your telescopes to gaze into distant star systems, you may detect traces of alien signals or undiscovered exoplanets, and collect promising data to examine and study back home.

Back on Earth, you can invest in upgrading your equipment so you can analyze incoming data more efficiently, boost your telescope signal capacity, or increase your supply of resources—all to expand the scope of your search that could lead to a discovery of extraterrestrial life forms.

You will also make use of over 200 cards to aid your efforts or focus your research in a particular direction for additional bonuses and rewards. Each card has unique effects and illustrations and depicts real-life technologies, projects, and discoveries (like the ISS, Large Hadron Collider, Perseverance rover, Voyager probe, and many more).

Finding traces of extraterrestrial life is only a matter of time—utilize the resources you have at your disposal strategically and you may well end up being the one to make the biggest scientific contribution towards advancing our understanding of alien life within our galaxy.

SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence pays homage to space and planetary exploration, astronomy, the ongoing search for signs of life in the vastness of space, and efforts to understand the nature of life in the universe.

—description from the publisher